


First Fight

by pancake2



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pancake2/pseuds/pancake2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos misses a rather important date, and Cecil isn't going to ignore it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Fight

**Author's Note:**

> I gave something like this as a prompt to someone forever ago and then decided I wanted to give it a go so yep this took me way too long but I finally finished it

Cecil glanced impatiently at his wristwatch for what had to be the forty-somethingth time in the past three minutes. Yes, Carlos was definitely late.

At first, he had tried not to get too worked up over it. He understood that Carlos was very busy doing important science things in his lab, but he had _promised_ to come home early today.

Cecil sighed frustratedly as he flopped onto the couch, staring at his phone and wishing that Carlos would so much as _text_ him, saying he would be home soon, that he was sorry... _Something_.

He had been doing this for an hour, though, and decided he wasn't going to get a response unless he called him. The phone rang for what could have literally been ages, before eventually going to voicemail.

Cecil groaned, because this was probably even _worse_ than not receiving a text back. He whined into the phone, " _Carlos_ , we've already missed our reservation! _Please_ , could you at least call me back?"

After ending the call, he tossed his phone defeatedly onto the sofa beside him, not even wanting to look at it because he knew it wouldn't be telling him that Carlos was trying to contact him. He hated to think that Carlos had more important things to do.

It wasn't until three hours and seven failed phone calls later that the front door quietly clicked open, revealing an extremely guilty-looking Carlos. He opened his mouth to say something, but Cecil leapt up angrily, going off on a tirade before Carlos could say a word.

" _Carlos_! Where _were_ you? We were supposed to go to dinner _three hours_ ago! How could you just miss something like that? Our _six-month anniversary_ , Carlos! And you wouldn't even _text_ me!"

Carlos hated the tears that he saw beginning to form in the corners of Cecil's eyes, and he hated even more that he was their cause. He reached for Cecil to attempt to comfort him, but he pulled away, tears beginning to fall.

"I got over it those times when you were busy and missed a little date or two, but... Tonight was supposed to be _special_! How could you let anything get in the way of that?"

Carlos grabbed Cecil's hand, pulling him gently towards him, and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. "Cecil, I couldn't leave work, and I feel like such a dick, and I'm sorry. I had to clean up the entire lab because the caterpillar got loose and-"

"I don't _care_ what happened! You _promised_ me you'd be home at four! We were supposed to have a great evening and you couldn't even be bothered to answer your phone! It's like you don't even care!" Cecil yelled as he pulled himself from Carlos' grasp. There was a dangerous fire in his eyes despite the tears he couldn't hold back.

"I said I'm _sorry_ , Cecil!"

"I don't wanna hear it!"

And with that, Cecil ran up the stairs, and Carlos cringed as he heard their bedroom door slam shut. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing exasperatedly. That had gone just about as awfully as he had expected, and he had honestly hoped that he had been being too pessimistic.

He wandered into the kitchen, noticing a dirty dish in the sink, and he felt horrible all over again. He had so badly wanted to spend the evening with Cecil, but the havoc the caterpillar had wrecked on the lab simply couldn't have been left alone until the following day. Carlos silently cursed himself for not putting the lock back on its cage, because if he had, none of this mess would have happened.

After rummaging through the fridge for several minutes, he heated up some leftover pizza and ate it, feeling odd to be sitting alone at the small kitchen table. He glanced at his phone, noting that he had quite an abundance of texts and voicemails from Cecil. It probably would have been a good idea for him to check his phone before leaving the lab, but he had wanted to make it home as quickly as possible. Not that that had done him much good.

He sighed and set the phone down, contemplating if he should try to talk to Cecil again. Carlos had never seen him so angry, and was actually rather terrified of his boyfriend's wrath. Maybe giving him some time to cool down was the best idea.

Carlos found a blanket that was far too small in the hallway closet, and made a makeshift bed on the couch, lying down but not really feeling able to sleep. He stared at the ceiling for what felt like an hour before he decided he couldn't take it anymore, and grabbed his phone, texting Cecil a casual "hey."

It was only a matter of seconds before the phone proclaimed that Cecil had read the text, but it did not appear that he was making any attempt to respond. But it did mean that he, too, was still awake. Carlos sighed and sent another text, apologising again, and watched as Cecil read it but chose, yet again, not to respond. This was hopeless.

Carlos turned the TV on, trying to distract himself, but he just found himself flicking through the channels and not really paying attention to anything. He eventually turned it off, standing up to go and look for something to distract him, because there was no way he could fall asleep tonight. He found a book and sat down to read it, but realised after about ten pages that he couldn't remember a word of what he had just read, and tossed the book towards the coffee table, not even bothering to check if it had landed there or fallen to the floor.

Maybe he would just force himself to sleep. He laid down again, but found that he just didn't feel tired at all. This was pure torture, and he knew that he was the only one to blame.

It was what had to have been at least three sleepless hours later that Carlos heard the quiet creaking of the stairs, and then the soft padding of Cecil's bare feet on the hardwood floor. He sat up and turned towards the sound, greeted by the sight of his boyfriend with the most vulnerable expression he had ever seen; his eyes had a soft pink glow around them, his cheeks were completely tear-stained, and he seemed to be swallowing back tears that begged to fall. He looked like he might literally fall to pieces at any second. The sight made Carlos want to cry.

Before he could say a word, Cecil sprung toward him, practically crumpling in his arms. He sobbed loudly, "I'm so _sorry _, Carlos!"__

Carlos was extremely confused at this outburst, pulling back a bit and asking, "Cecil? You didn't do anything wrong, _I'm_ the one who completely fucked up our entire evening. Don't blame yourself!"

Cecil shook his head, sniffling, "No, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you had important stuff to do, I should have understood, and-"

Carlos pressed his thumb softly against Cecil's lips, countering, "It's fine for you to be upset with me, alright? I know I promised you I'd be home, and I really hate that I wasn't, because, one-hundred percent honestly, there's nothing I would have rather been doing than spending the evening with you, but I _had_ to stay back and clean up. And I hate that. I hate that I left the lock off the cage, and I hate that I couldn't have realised the caterpillar escaped sooner, I hate that literally everything that went wrong was my fault, and most of all, I hate how much I disappointed you because of how much I royally fucked up today. Can you forgive me?"

Cecil nodded gently, asking sheepishly, "Would you come to bed with me?"

Carlos blinked for a moment, confused with Cecil's sudden change in mood, when Cecil seemed to have read his mind, and shook his head, "Not like that, it's just... Um..." He looked at his toes, cheeks glowing a soft shade of heliotrope as he mumbled, "I couldn't sleep without you."

Carlos' face melted into a soft smile, and he leaned forward to kiss Cecil, before scooping the taller man up in his arms and carrying him upstairs to their room.

Once the two were in bed beside one another, Carlos carefully wrapped his arms around Cecil, practically enveloping him in his embrace as he pressed a gentle kiss to the nape of his neck. Cecil shivered a bit, grinning as he settled back against Carlos, finally feeling the beginnings of sleep set in.

Just before his eyes closed, he heard Carlos whisper in his ear, "Hey Ceec?"

"Mmhm?"

"I love you."

Cecil smiled, rolling over a bit to kiss Carlos' cheek as he whispered, "Love you, too."

**Author's Note:**

> it is physically impossible for me to not write cheesy endings sorry not sorry


End file.
